From a federal prison in Texas, former Humboldt Creamery CEO Richard Ghilarducci is asking a federal judge to release him from prison after serving less than half of a 30-month sentence for bank fraud.

The U.S Attorney's Office has a little more than a month to respond to Ghilarducci's motion, which was filed with the court in May and claims he was inadequately represented as prosecutors violated his rights in a case that ended with him pleading guilty to a single count of making false statements to an agricultural credit bank.

Ghilarducci, 52, was sentenced in May 2011 to serve 30 months in federal prison and to pay $7 million in restitution for his role in the fraud that shook the Eel River Valley.

The former mayor of Rio Dell, Ghilarducci shocked the local community when he abruptly resigned as CEO of the iconic Humboldt Creamery in February 2009. After 12 years in the post, Ghilarducci tendered his resignation from Arizona via a letter sent by Ghilarducci's attorney, Elliot Peters, warning the company of potential discrepancies in its financial records, which had boasted record sales just one year earlier.

Within months, the 80-year-old, cooperatively-owned creamery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and was later sold at auction for $19.25 million to Modesto-based Foster Farms Dairy.

In federal court, Ghilarducci later admitted to having inflated the value of the creamery's accounts receivable and inventory in financial statements prepared for the creamery's lender, CoBank, between 2005 and 2008.

Ghilarducci faced up to 30 years in prison but was sentenced to serve two and a half years in a prison. He is currently serving his sentence at La Tuna Federal Prison Camp outside of Anthony, Texas.

In the motion recently filed with the court, Ghilarducci argues that he was acting on bad advice from his attorney when he pleaded and that the U.S. Attorney's Office violated his rights by withholding potentially exculpatory evidence from him and Peters during the case.

In what's known as a "2255 motion," Ghilarducci is challenging the continued imposition of his sentence. If a judge ultimately agrees his Constitutional rights were violated, the court could opt to have him released, resentenced or grant him a new trial.

Specifically, Ghilarducci is arguing that the federal government had documents that calculated the total losses incurred by CoBank resulting from the false financial statements provided by Ghilarducci but failed to turn them over to his defense, as is required by law. Further, Ghilarducci argues that he asked Peters to provide an analysis surmising the creamery's finances had he not filed false statements in order to help pinpoint the impact of the fraud.

Peters, Ghilarducci claims, did not provide the analysis, known as a "but-for" analysis, and misinformed him on the law.

"Defense counsel misrepresented critical information to the defendant during plea negotiations, causing defendant to accept the plea agreement on false pretenses and in violation of the law," Ghilarducci writes in the motion.

On the eve of his sentencing in April 2011, Ghilarducci informed U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer that he wanted to fire Peters and hire another attorney. After consulting with both Peters and Ghilarducci behind closed doors, Breyer gave Ghilarducci a week and a half to find another attorney to represent him. However, Ghilarducci returned to court saying he had decided to keep Peters, who then argued a grant of probation would be appropriate in the case.

In his court filings -- which also argue that the court-imposed restitution fines of $7 million should be lowered -- Ghilarducci states that he still owes Peters' high-powered San Francisco law firm Keker and Van Nest $169,000 in legal costs. In the filings, Ghilarducci also states that he and his wife have no monthly income, $60,000 in unpaid credit card bills and owe $311,000 on a $380,000 home. Ghilarducci lists his other assets as a 2003 Ford truck, a vacant lot worth $55,000, and $202 in cash assets, which sit in a prison bank account.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has until Aug. 17 to respond to Ghilarducci's motion, and the defendant will have an additional 30 days to respond, if he wishes, to whatever prosecutors file before Breyer rules on the issues of alleged prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective counsel and unconstitutional sentencing.

As currently sentenced, Ghilarducci is slated to be released from low security prison on July 24, 2013.